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Video: On the lam in a Wal-Mart truck

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A man who escaped from a prison van in South Carolina made his way more than 300 miles to Tennessee, where he stole a big rig in hopes of seeing his dying mother, police said.

Authorities searched Wednesday for Christopher Daniel Gay, who escaped Sunday night near Hardeeville, S.C., while a prison transport company was shuttling him from Georgetown, Texas, to Pell City, Ala.

"He was trying to get home to see his mom, that's what I believe," said Michael Douglas, police chief in Pleasant View, about 20 miles northwest of Nashville.

Gay's mother has terminal cancer, authorities said.

Gay was being chased by police Tuesday when he drove the truck full of Wal-Mart merchandise into a field just 50 yards away from the mobile home where his mother lives and hasn't been seen since.

Investigators do not believe Gay is armed, Douglas said.

Gay was arrested last month in Texas and was wanted in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee on various charges of escape and felony theft of trucks and other heavy equipment.